Day... I don't know:) 7/25/10

We have had a busy couple of days for sure! Friday we went to the school that we would be working at to see what our facility was like and what we could use. I believe that we honestly couldn't get any luckier. We have a huge cafeteria to work in with so many open windows and an outside eating area. We are also able to use some of the staff rooms for ourselves as well as the library area and game area. There is a "Tiny Tots" play ground right outside the cafeteria and two bigger playgrounds outside of the library. Our space is huge and i couldn't be any more grateful.

After that we came back to camp and got ready to go out for the night. We went to a little italian place for dinner and was able to chit chat a little more. The pizza was soooo good and they had about 50 different kinds! It was pretty crazy. We then went and walked around and went to some bars(sorry, mom). It was a pretty fun night. There are a few irish pubs around town and some other bars for many of the officers on base. The place we ended up at was called Viva, and it's a generally for young, drunk soldiers. Thankfully we have a guy in our group, so we call clint our designated boyfriend and he protects us:)

Yesterday we went to Hamburg for the day. It was my first time on the train system and it was pretty cool! We got into hamburg around 2 p.m. and went to this really cool bakery with sandwiches, pasta, and desserts. After that we walked to St. Peter's church and the inside was AMAZING again. But we had the opportunity to walk up to the top of the tower. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was SCARY and HARD. I was dripping sweat at the end of it but it was so worth it. Check out my pictures on facebook if you want to see them:)

After that we walked around the city and looked at some more things. We got back to the train station at about 9pm and rode home. It was a pretty awesome day. Today we went to brunch and soon we'll be going to the bergen belsen concentration camp where Anne Frank died. It'll probably be amazing, and i'll try and post more later!

Cheers!

Day 4-22/7/2010

Updating my blog everyday might not be so realistic now. Our internet is really bad, and had to pay about 40$ to sign on for a month. I think it's worth it, but it doesn't even reach to our barracks. So now, me and another counselor, Clint, are sitting in the cellar of the mess hall until we wait for dinner (It's 6:56pm here).

Going to a country in Europe, you probably think that you'll be able to get by with english since it's such a "universal language". But no, that is definitely not the case in Germany. Being on a British base is even hard enough. I never realized before how hard it actually is to understand someone with an english accent, even if they are speaking the same language.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to a town called Celle, which is about thirty minutes away. Our POC, Lynn, wanted to take us to the place where we would be taking the bus back to camp and then she gave us a few hours to roam around the city and explore. Even this first trip to an actual german town made this whole trip that much better. It is exactly how I pictured it. Brown and white houses with geometric patterns and little flower pots in the top windows. There were so many cute stores and cafe's that it was overwhelming. My favorite part was when we were able to go to this really old church, built in 1227 I believe. The inside was absolutely incredible with original paintings everywhere. There was so much to see and every bit of it was so detailed.

There is in no way one word to describe my trip so far. Sorry to say, that I don't miss the states that much. Germany is amazing and is everything I wished it would be and more. I'll write again soon!

Day 1-19/7/2010

Well hello there, all who are following me. It is about 4:57pm on June 18th in Oregon as I write this, and I am currently flying over the tip of Greenland (Crazy right…?). It’s 2am right now and I’m sitting next to one of my friends Sarah for this long 8 hour and 5 minute flight. This morning I woke up around 2:15am and me, Mariah, mom and Megan went to the airport to send me off. It has been a long day to say the least, and I still have about five and a half hours left on this plane.

The trip so far has gone surprisingly well with little to no home sick-ness. Everyone got a little teary eyed at the airport but once I was past security with the rest of the girls going to Germany, I felt like this is where I belong. It’s going to be a weird adjustment but I know that I’m doing the right thing. There are some things that I’m nervous about and some things that I’m excited about, but I really just hope that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

My flight from Portland left at 6:10am this morning and we got into Atlanta around 2pm. We were able to get a quick bite to eat and head over to the way other side of the airport to go to our next gate. Luckily the flight was delayed a bit, so we had more time to sit and relax before having to jump on a long flight again. It took us another 30-45 minutes from when we boarded to actually take off. This plane is MUCH better than the one from Portland to Atlanta. They have movies playing and we had a delicious(as much as it can get) airline dinner. Complete with chicken, mashed potatoes, frozen veggies, bread, cheese, Caesar salad, crackers and a brownie.

Now me and Sarah are looking out as the sun is setting(so weird) and watching some shows to pass the time. I can’t wait ‘til we finally get into Germany and all this traveling can be done with. I hope to hear from all of you guys soon!